NYCC Interview: Roundtable with Ryan Potter from TITANS

‘Big Hero 6’s Ryan Potter dishes on what he loves most about playing Beast Boy in DC’s TITANS.

Speaking with Ryan Potter was certainly a treat as we learned more about the silly goofy teen Titan that we know and love. But with Beast Boy not appearing until later in the season of Titans, we really didn’t have much to work off of. So without any clue as to what to expect, who better to ask than Beast Boy himself.

Naturally, we had to ask about BBRae to which Potter simply smiled brightly and responded coyly.

It’s a fitting introduction. It starts BBRae. Beast Boy is drawn to Raven immediately and he recognizes her as an outsider, as an outlier, and I don’t think he knows that she has powers and that she’s the spawn of an intergalactic demon. But he sees that there’s something else going on and in 15-year-old Garfield, Beast Boy’s eyes, she’s cute. So he goes up and he wants to spit some game. And the only way he knows how to do that is with Twilight Zone references.

Only time will tell how the show’s decided to develop this silly green goofball. We do know that there’s something intriguing about the setup of this show compared to the rest. And so we wanted to get Potter’s perspective on this conscious creative decision by the creative team.

To be 100% honest, when I saw the first couple episodes I was taken aback because I’ve never seen these characters have solo storylines before. I mean, like I’ve read a Dick Grayson Starfire comic, I’ve read the Raven but to actually see them in solo or pairs is strange. Because the dynamic works when they’re all together. And I’m not saying I’m not seeing the dynamic when it’s just pairs or solo but it’s so different than anything we’ve seen before that you really have to sit and marinate on it.

That’s true. Onlookers may not know it but Beast boy does have a pretty sad and tug-at-your-heart background. So with this show, hopefully we’ll see that play out and although stopping by our table way after Ritchson did, Potter echos the older man’s words by explaining how much he enjoyed delving more into Beast Boy’s emotional (and often hidden) psyche.

That’s why these stories are so interesting. Because we’re exploring the gray areas in between the comics that have existed and we’re pulling some of those smaller stories and flushing them out. […] to kind of pull the curtain back and see that there is trauma underneath the kind of the genuine quality that Beast Boy has is interesting. It shows that every emotion has a parrot emotion in the sense that anger has compassion and sadness has happiness. And you know, his laughter and his heart comes from a place of deep pain and we do explore that.

Titans is now available on the DC Universe Streaming Service.

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A storyteller at her core, Shannon loves writing about the stories that inspire her everyday. When she’s not busy writing and binge watching TV, you can catch her out exploring the world and trying new foods and activities. “At least try it once. Even if it doesn’t work out, at least you’ll have a good story to tell.”